The Dress

Ch. 3

~ The Dress ~

Like most girls, I always dreamed of what my wedding dress would look like. Considering that Matt and I are both teachers, and Spring season coaches - I knew we would lean toward planning a summer wedding. Actually setting the wedding date and booking reception hall made our big day seem real... but nothing could compare to seeing myself (all grown up) in the mirror at the bridal store, in a wedding gown.

Growing up, Lela & I loved to draw pictures of wedding gowns - and share all of our favorite details of how we dreamed our wedding days would be. Of course, many people suggested doing a double wedding. Despite the fact that Lela and I are identical twins, and best friends that share a unique bond - we never even thought twice about sharing our wedding day. Rather, we wanted to be in each others bridal party and help plan the shower, bachelorette party, etc.

In preparation for going dress shopping, I spent countless hours watching "Say Yes to the Dress" on TLC, and fell in love with certain styles that would work for our summer wedding. I also did some online browsing and began my wedding binder, with links to wedding accessories, shoes, hair styles, songs, invitations, save the dates, venues, etc. Matt and I have had a busy few years of attending our friends from high school & college, and siblings' weddings. Along the way, I took several pictures of centerpieces, favors, cakes - and of course the brides' gown! I absolutely love the feeling I get, when the groom see his bride for the first time. This typically makes me cry...

Having about 5 gowns in mind that I wanted to try on, aleviated all of the stress and simply made for a great girls day. Even though, I had several dresses to try on, they were basically all similar styles with variations in fabric, color, embellishments - and I had one special gown in mind! Lela and I both knew that this would be my gown, even before I tried any gowns on. Mostly because it was perfect for my style, color, details, and light weight for an August wedding, not to mention absolutely beautiful.

The actual trying on the gowns is hard to describe. While I felt all grown up, I quickly remembered going dress shopping with my sister Tracy, and thinking to myself "What does that feel like?" Let's call my special gown, gown #1. My favorite dresses were pulled from the racks - and I decided to try gown #1 on first. I was just so excited, I couldn't wait. One look in the mirror, and I knew this was my gown. But I wanted to make the experience more "fun" for everyone, and also wanted to try on a few other styles. I loved an all-lace dress with a key-hole back and a satin belt. This had me thinking...not doubting, just thinking. Tracy & Lela took pictures that afternoon, and I can envision the wheels in my head turning in a few of the pictures. After about 3 or 4 gowns, I tried gown #1 on again, and this time - added a veil and satin flower in my hair. I LOVED the entire look...and said "yes" to the dress! Sometimes I get so excited just thinking of the gown, that I want to share the details with Matt.

My beautiful bridal party is; Lela (Maid of Honor), Tracy & Kristi (sister-in-law) are my bridesmaids. We chose a teal green cocktail dress which will look stunning on them. I'm looking forward to finding the jewelry for the girls. And ~something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue~ for me.

A few words that I would use to describe my wedding gown are; modern, elegant, fun, and "me", according to Lela :)

The image in this post is an example or my wedding colors, and ideas! For those of you that haven't seen my gown yet, I would like to keep it a surprise :)

Stay tuned for the next Chapter.

Our Engagment

Chapter 2

~ Our Engagment ~



Matt and I have been engaged since September 9, 2009 (9-9-09)! I always dreamed about my -ring- would look like, and tried to drop little hints to Matt about what my favorite style of ring was along the way. And of course, Lela knew exactly what style of ring I wanted, just in case Matt needed a helping hand.

Matt went ring shopping by himself, during the summer of '09. During his proposal, as I opened the red jewelry box, I remember thinking to myself, "Mattie has been paying attention!"...because, the ring was everything I wanted (Princess Cut Diamond Solitaire Ring), and more!

In the days to come, I learned that Matt had sat down with my parents, and Lela to ask my Father for my hand in marriage, which truly meant the world to me. Even though Matt and I have been together since our sophomore year at Endicott College, and my parents already welcomed him into the Lituri family, this gesture was very sweet.

Our first year of being engaged, proved to be a very busy year! I began my new teaching job and coached WHS' girls lacrosse team (with my college roommate and best friend Beth) in their inaugural season and Matt was busy teaching, being a basketball referee, coaching his JV baseball team at RMHS, as well as his first season of coaching the Reading Bulldogs, in an Intercity baseball league. We began the house hunting process in June of 2009, and purchased our dream home in December, just in time to decorate for Christmas, and have our first Christmas tree! Living in our (small) third floor apartment prior to this move, definitely didn't allow room for a Christmas tree, so I settled for a mini-tree for the past two years. But not anymore - my Mom and I went Christmas tree shopping, and Matt & I decorated our tree with ornaments from our childhood, and special keepsakes that I had been collecting through the years.

It took some time, but Matt and I have settled into our house. We had endless support from our family and friends, who helped us paint each room, pull up old rugs, assemble furniture, pass down furniture to us, and showered us with gifts to help make our new house, a home.

I know these next 11 months will fly by - and before we know it, I will be taking my deep breath (!) before walking down the aisle to see my best friend, waiting for me at the alter.

The most beautiful & perfect ring, for me!

Welcome to our Wedding Blog!

Dear Family & Friends,

Welcome to our Wedding Site! Matt and I were engaged on 9/09/2009 - and have had a wonderful and busy year.

Chapter 1
~ The Proposal~

After 2 years of graduate school, and dozens of job applications sent in the mail - I was blessed with my dream job, that of a Kindergarten Teacher. Ever since I was in Elementary School, I longed for my own classroom, desk, bulletin boards, book shelves, and classroom of young learners. I was hired a week before the first day of school, and while the classroom set-up, new teacher orientations, and paper work were overwhelming and at times scary - I embraced it all with open arms. On Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - I packed my lunch, carefully chose the perfect first day of school outfit and went to bed early - anticipating a busy day ahead with 16, five year olds, which overtime would become a little classroom community and family.

Little to my knowledge, Matt was watching the minutes on our alarm clock slowly pass throughout the night. I remember chatting with Matt for a long time before I finally fell asleep, asking him endless questions about how he thought my first day of school would go. Matt had already kicked off his school year, as the world's best gym teacher - he truly loves his job! He has been teaching at the same school for many years and was well accustomed to the first week of school.

The hall light turned on, and my eyes opened to Matt slowly climbing out of bed. Matt and I have been together since we were sophomores at Endicott College (February 2001). For a long time, I had been dreaming of what our proposal would be like, what Matt would say, how I would react, would I cry, where would it take place...? All of my questions and hopes came down this very moment, as Matt opened the top right drawer of his bureau, and reached in for something. I quickly sat up in bed, and was smiling ear-to-ear with excitement. When I realized that is was midnight, I thought, is this really happening?! Matt was very sweet in the actual proposal, and of course I cried with joy, and stared at my beautiful ring all night long.

The following day, as I sat down to read my first Kindergarten class a story, a teacher came in with a dozen roses, that Matt had sent to the school. As I turned the pages to one of my favorite children's books, My Name is Yoon, by Helen Recorvits, I couldn't help but admire my new accessory and smile - feeling very blessed in that proud moment.


Come back often to join Matt and I on our journey of planning our wedding and to see the details of our special day unfold in the chapters ahead! Please note that this is a private website, and we trust that you will use discretion in sharing this with others.